Barbara Bush, Former First Lady of U.S., in Failing Health: Family Spokesperson

Barbara Bush, Former First Lady of U.S., in Failing Health: Family Spokesperson

Barbara above in 1988 with her husband has been battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure

Melinda Barton
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15 April, 2018, 23:25

Former first lady Barbara Bush is in failing health and will not seek additional medical care after a series of recent hospitalizations, a spokesman for the Bush family said Sunday.

Barbara Bush is the second woman in US history to be both a wife and mother of a USA president.

Barbara Bush's brown hair began to gray in the 1950s while her 3-year-old daughter, Pauline, known to her family as Robin, underwent treatment for leukemia. Jim McGrath, who issued a statement, said that she is surrounded by a familyand appreciates the messages and prayers she's been receiving from people. In years past she has been hospitalized for Graves' disease, a thyroid condition, and bronchitis, a respiratory ailment.

In retirement, former President George H.W. and Barbara Bush made Houston their home, often to the adulation of their fans whether it was sneaking a smooch on the Houston Texans kiss cam at NRG Stadium to tossing out the first pitch for the Houston Astros after President Bush broke his neck in 2015.

Bush, who served as president from 1989 to 1993, has a form of Parkinson's disease and uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility.

Barbara Bush is the mother of former president George W. Bush, the country's 43rd president.

She also defended them against detractors, from those who criticized her husband's decision to raise taxes in 1990 to those who opposed her son's decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003. Her father was the publisher of McCall's and Redbook magazines. Bush read a children's book and introduced the patients to her dog during the visit.